STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Chinese food deliveryman who was shot and killed in Mariners Harbor Tuesday night had been on the job for just a few days and was still undergoing training, staff at the restaurant where he worked said.

Residents of the block said the site was a notorious trap into which delivery drivers are lured and then mugged. A high-ranking law enforcement source confirmed the block has been plagued by similar robberies.

An employee at Crown Palace told the Advance the order the driver went out on seemed legit, though it was to a new address.

"It didn't sound like a fake call. It did sound like a regular -- it was a new address, but it was like a regular order," a receptionist said.

The rattled staff at Crown Palace, who said they never had any problems with deliveryworkers being robbed before, are already taking precautions -- an employee said workers would be told to call customers before dropping off an order.

Cops are hunting for three black male suspects, a law enforcement source told the Advance, but could provide no further information.

While Salvia is listed under a New Jersey address, a police source said he shared an apartment on Staten Island with his girlfriend.

A Grandview resident said he heard the gunshot from inside his home and ventured outside; he saw the victim on his back near his car in the middle of the road, blood coming out the back of his head, and brown paper delivery bags strewn about the corpse.

"The guy was just delivering food -- they shot him right in the back of the head," said the resident. Fearing for his safety, he didn't give his name.

John Buonviaggio of Tottenville, who was dining at Crown Palace on Wednesday afternoon, expressed shock over the seemingly senseless act of violence.

"The guy’s trying to make a living, and then he comes out and gets shot. It is, it is sad… Why do they do it? For the money? To rob him?”

He also decried crime on the North Shore, saying, "A lot on the North Shore on Staten Island, a lot of crime. If you look on the Staten Island Advance, you’ll see that a lot.”

“It’s a shame, it’s a shame. A shame to see it on Staten Island. A lot of things are changing.”